Survivors
by Totally-Out-Of-It
Summary: Hankel wasn't in view, but the camera kept rolling, showing just how still and fragile Reid was. "He's dead?" The missing reactions from episode 2.15 - Revelations. Includes reactions from Hotch, JJ, Prentiss, Morgan, and some Garcia. One-shot drabble.


A/N: Story requested by my sister a week or two ago after her third time watching the episode Revelations and being dissatisfied with it's lack of showing the team's reaction to Reid's temporary death and an apparent lack of stories about said reactions. Hope you all enjoy.

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"Oh god."

Garcia's soft crying reached their ears somehow. Gideon's hurried retreat to the bathroom got them moving. He did not look well, and they could only imagine with horror about what had been found or seen… but when they entered that computer room, none of them were prepared for what they saw.

There he was, their sweet, androgynous genius, tied to a chair but lying on the ground. He wasn't moving, not even an inch. No chest movement, no spasms, no twitches. He was silent, the whole video was. Hankel wasn't in view, but the camera kept rolling, showing just how still and fragile Reid was.

"He's… dead?" it was JJ who asked first, guilt in her voice. She was holding her chest like it might fall to pieces if she let it go.

"Hankel... he just… and Reid he… uh… he…," Garcia muttered, her eyes glued to Reid's still form and her mind replaying those last few moments over and over again. The hitting… the whimpering… the spasms. "Oh god… Reid…"

JJ covered her mouth and closed her eyes, sinking to the floor. She held onto the back of Garcia's chair for support and fought to keep from vomiting. This was all her fault. If she'd just stayed with Reid, if she had followed him that night then none of this would've happened! God, this was all her fault. She'd been careless and now Reid was… He was dead! Sweet Spence was gone! She fought back any tears that may have wanted to spring up. They had… they had to find Hankel. They had to find him and get revenge, but was it now to keep him from killing again or for revenge? Oh what did it matter? JJ let out a whimper and pressed her hand more firmly over her mouth to try and hold it all inside.

"Oh, Spencer," she moaned, muffled into her palm.

Prentiss pressed the side of her hand to her mouth and looked over at her teammates. She'd swallowed down a lot of emotion over cases before, but this was the first one to affect a friend, a colleague she knew and trusted. She didn't know what to feel. She didn't know what this growing emotion inside of her chest was. Was she sad? Or was this anger? Was she feeling guilty or sick? She just didn't know, and that killed her more than the actual emotion. Reid was lying there, dead, and she couldn't even decide if she felt enough for him to be sad or mad! So she cast her gaze to her coworkers, looking for their emotions as though it would help her figure out how she herself was feeling. How was she supposed to feel after the death of her new teammate?

Hotch closed his eyes for a moment of grief before he fixed his gaze on Reid's form. Something inside him was screaming, ordering Reid to keep fighting and get back up, and something else was telling him it was a wasted effort, that Reid was gone. Still, his mouth moved with the words.

"Come on, Reid. Come on. Come on, Reid. Come on." Over and over, but no sound came out. He was just hoping beyond hope that this wasn't the end. He'd never lost a teammate yet. He'd always been able to predict how things would go and keep them all in a semi-safe place. He'd always felt that Reid, the youngest, the weakest, the least experienced would be protected by the older ones, the stronger ones, by Gideon or Morgan or himself. He'd never lost that confidence before now… now, when his eyes were so trained on that motionless body, sprawled haphazardly over the chair and floor, eyes closed.

Hotch closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. He didn't want to believe it, that their genius could be gone. Reid may have learned to deal with this emotionally over time, but now… now Reid wouldn't have to. He was gone. Hotch let out his breath slowly, telling himself that Reid was in a better place now, that he wasn't in danger anymore and that they'd done everything they could to help him. He had to believe that someone like Reid would go somewhere nice, no matter which religion was used. Reid was simply too sweet to have died this way, and he deserved a damn good place once it was said and done. But damn… why Reid?

And Morgan… Morgan slid into the room, looking at all of the screens at once, as though only one would show the real thing. His eyes took in the position and condition of the frail figure in the image and it burned itself into his retinas. Morgan waited just long enough for the blood pumping in his ears to start flowing before he turned from the screen and punched the door three times, as hard as he could. He'd hoped to break it right off its hinges, but it stayed tough even so. Morgan wanted to keep hitting it, but his strength seemed to grow in anger and ebb in despair all at once, and he couldn't find the strength to keep punching.

"Damn it!" he cursed. He gripped the edges of the door tightly and squeezed. His forehead pressed into the dirty wood and he squeezed his eyes so tightly shut that even if tears were in his arsenal, they wouldn't have escaped.

Damn it! He kicked the door in a sudden discovery of strength to move. He felt his gut clench with disgust and anger… but not just at Hankel. This was at himself. It was like his god given duty to protect Reid, to keep him safe and to get him to safety when the stupid genius went and got himself in trouble. It was his duty to be with him in a dangerous situation and have the words and strength to cover him. It was his job, damn it, and he'd failed!

"Damn it…. Damn it. Damn it! Damn it!" he cursed, kicking the door with each one. It still stayed strong to its hinges. He didn't care anymore.

Reid had been so young… so brilliant… so talented. He was meant to change the world with his brains! This wasn't the way he was supposed to go! Morgan let out a slight hiss and rubbed at his dry eyes. He was going to find this son of a bitch and kill him. He was going to slaughter him like he did to Reid and all those other people. There would be no mercy when Morgan found him! This guy killed Reid! Right in front of them!

"H-hey!" Garcia called all attention to her. "H-Hankel's back!" She was pointing at the screen as though no one else would be able to see the shadowy figure without her finger showing them the way.

JJ pulled herself to her feet but still held on to the chair, just in case she couldn't handle what was about to happen. Hotch turned to go grab Gideon. He needed to see whatever it was that was about to change, good or bad. Prentiss turned her eyes back to the computer and dropped her hands down to hold fast to each other in front of her. She rung her fingers together and watched the screen, unsure what she thought Hankel was planning. Garcia was still frozen in her seat, unable to even change her expression from the shock it had already been in, though she did manage to stop crying. Morgan released the door roughly and stood, tight and tense, behind JJ and Garcia, waiting for a miracle or more reason for a massacre. He didn't care which anymore, though in his heart he knew he would prefer the miracle. He clenched his fist and pressed it to his mouth. As Tobias Hankel neared Reid's body in a frenzied, panicked manner, Morgan closed his eyes for the briefest of moments and prayed to God to help them all, but mostly to help Reid. It was a prayer he'd been whispering in his mind since this whole ordeal began, as they all probably had, but he had just now put his whole heart and soul into.

Dear Lord, please let him survive this.

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Reviews are love


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